Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr backed out from his previous comments stating star Kevin Durant would go through the final stage of his recovery, slated to take on a full scrimmage on Thursday.
The coach noted on his media availability that he misspoke, saying he thought Durant would take on the contact stage of his recovery, but that the training staff had yet to clear him for that hurdle, according to Anthony Slater of The Athletic.
“There was no setback,” said Kerr. “I was hoping today would be the day he'd get back on the floor. It's not going to be today. It's going to be tomorrow or next couple days.”
As a result of that, he was ruled out for Game 4 of the series, making that now nine straight game and going on a full calendar month since he's seen the court.
Kerr was vague when describing Durant's move from this point on, saying the next course of action would be for him to scrimmage with full contact, but noting it could be the next day, or the next few days.
It seems the hope is for Durant to still return in this series, but it's getting awfully late for him to make an impact, with Game 4 becoming a must-win, if the Warriors are to have any chance at turning this series around after going down 2-1.
Durant's calf strain was initially diagnosed as “mild” — but it has already gone way past the expected timeline of 7-10 days that it would normally take for a Grade 1 strain to heal.